Category Archives: Programs and Projects

Two Bridges Urban Renewal Area 1972-1997

In partnership with Settlement Housing Fund, Two Bridges co-sponsored the redevelopment of the Two Bridges Urban Renewal Area, formerly a district of tenements and dilapidated commercial buildings along the East River Waterfront between the Manhattan Bridge and Corlear’s Hook.

Between 1972 and 1997, when the last building in the urban renewal district was completed, Two Bridges succeeded in creating nearly 1,500 units of low- and moderate-income housing, much of which will remain permanently affordable.

1975: Two Bridges Houses, 286 South Street. Developed in 1975 by Two Bridges Neighborhood Council and Settlement Housing Fund through the “turnkey” program of the New York City Housing Authority, which now owns and operates it. Two Bridges Houses, a 26-story project bordered by Clinton, South, Cherry, and Montgomery Streets, provides 250 units of low-income public housing and a community center.

1977: Land’s End I, 257 South Street. Co-developed by Two Bridges Neighborhood Council and Settlement Housing Fund. This 19-story tower, completed in 1977, included 260 units of federally subsidized Mitchell Lama housing.

1979: Lands End II, 265-275 Cherry Street. New York City’s first Section 8 family project, was developed by Two Bridges Neighborhood Council in partnership with Settlement Housing Fund. Its two 26-story towers, located on Cherry Street between Rutgers Slip and Jefferson Street, include 490 units of low-income housing. Completed in 1979, the project offered tax benefits to investors in return for providing housing for low-income families. Tenants pay thirty percent of their income toward rent and the federal government pays the balance.

1983: Pathmark Supermarket, Cherry & Pike Streets. Brought a major supermarket into an underserved neighborhood. The Pathmark & Pathmark Pharmacy were tenant-financed through the Federal Home Loan Bank CIP Program.

Two Bridges also helped create the running track at Murray Bertram High School, now Verizon Field, located between Cherry & South Streets and Pike & Market Slip.

1985: Two Bridges Townhouses, 291 Cherry Street. Two Bridges Neighborhood Council and Settlement Housing Fund co-developed the Two Bridges Townhouses, located on Cherry Street between Clinton and Jefferson Streets. Construction of these 57 moderate-income condominiums began in 1983 and was completed in 1985. This was one of the few successful projects created under the HUD Section 235 program, which lowered mortgage payments by providing interest subsidies for moderate-income homebuyers. The City assisted in the project’s development through real estate tax reductions and a grant for construction costs.

1989: Two Bridges Senior Apartments, 80 Rutgers Slip. Completed in 1989, the ten-story building provides 109 units of housing for the elderly and disabled. The federal and city governments provide subsidies, tax reductions, and loans and to keep the rents affordable. Two Bridges Senior Apartments Services, operated by Hamilton-Madison House, provides on-site social services, meals, and activities.

1997: Two Bridges Tower, 82 Rutgers Slip. Co-developed and co-owned by Two Bridges Neighborhood Council and Settlement Housing Fund, the 21-story Two Bridges Tower’s 198 housing units include 59 apartments reserved for homeless families and 40 units for families earning less than 60% of median income; 97 units are affordable to families earning 80% of median income. The rent-stabilized building will remain permanently affordable mixed-income housing. Every floor is mixed economically & ethnically. To serve the special needs of the project’s diverse group of tenants, Hamilton-Madison House provides on-site social services. Completed in 1997, Two Bridges Tower was the final project to be developed in the Two Bridges Urban Renewal Area.

Affordable Housing

The core of Two Bridges’ mission is to provide and preserve affordable housing in the neighborhoods we serve. Since the 1970s, we have created almost 1,500 units of affordable housing across the Lower East Side. We continue to actively pursue new opportunities to build housing to serve the needs of low- to moderate-income working-class families and individuals.

Programs and Projects

For more than half a century, Two Bridges has nurtured the unique character of the Lower East Side by building bridges among its diverse communities. Two Bridges develops affordable housing, promotes the recognition and preservation of the area’s living history and culture, and advocates for residents and merchants through public programs, policy reports and events, and participation in neighborhood coalitions. By engaging in relevant and constructive dialogue with residents, local political leaders and partner organizations, Two Bridges provides authoritative commentary on critical issues facing our neighborhoods.

Via Del Popolo

Via Del Popolo ǀ San Gennaro NYC ǀ 2012

September 13-23, 2012

Location: Campus of the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, corner of Mulberry and Prince Streets, New York, NY

Via Del Popolo ǀ San Gennaro NYC ǀ 2012 reimagines one block of Mulberry Street as a public piazza and art exhibition in the heart of the historic Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral campus. Translated “the street of the people” and/or the “way of the people”, it is the intent of VIA DEL POPOLO to bring the concept of the local street festival back to its roots, and gift the annual celebration a shared, free, public art space to inform festival attendees about local traditions, past and present.

Two Bridges participation in this project is the second in a continuing series exploring the concept of Gateways in order to spotlight the historic districts in which it works. Working once again in collaboration with the historic Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, VIA DEL POPOLO is an extension of Two Bridges’ ongoing celebration of the Chinatown & Little Italy Historic District, for the outstanding and ongoing contributions these two neighborhoods have made to American history, society and culture.

The first in the series of Gateways was undertaken when Two Bridges transformed the northern end of Mulberry Street between Prince & East Houston into the Northern Gateway to the Chinatown & Little Italy Historic District during the 2011 Feast of San Gennaro. Two Bridges sponsored ten days of Italian-themed cultural programming, including opera singers, traditional folk music and dances, and on-street bocce courts. The Gateway itself was distinguished by the installation of the site-specific sculpture, Xtra Moenia, commissioned from the award-winning Brooklyn-based design studio, SOFTLab.

For more information and updates, see VIA DEL POPOLO project page.

For ticket information or 2012 sponsorship opportunities, please contact:
Elisa Espiritu, Director of Development,
Two Bridges Neighborhood Council
elisa@twobridges.org or (212) 566-2729.

Via Del Popolo ǀ Planning Committee

Mark Bussell, The Tisch School of the Arts at New York University
Kristine Gasbarre, Author of How to Love an American Man: A True Story
Phillip Kafka, Prince Media Co.
Maha Mamish, Aurora Vitrum Designs
Victor Papa and Elisa Espiritu, Two Bridges Neighborhood Council
Monsignor Donald Sakano, The Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral

Two Bridges Publications

Gateways: San Gennaro Gateway

Two Bridges explores the concept of Gateways in order to spotlight the historic districts in which it works.

The first in the ongoing series of Gateways was undertaken in collaboration with the historic Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, when Two Bridges transformed the northern end of Mulberry Street between Prince & East Houston into the Northern Gateway to the Chinatown & Little Italy Historic District during the 2011 Feast of San Gennaro. Two Bridges sponsored ten days of Italian-themed cultural programming, including opera singers, traditional folk music and dances, and on-street bocce courts. The Gateway itself was distinguished by the installation of the site-specific sculpture, Xtra Moenia, commissioned from the award-winning Brooklyn-based design studio, SOFTLab.

The Bowery Historic District

Two Bridges in partnership with Bowery Alliance of Neighbors (BAN) co-sponsored the nomination of the Bowery to the National Register of Historic Places. The Bowery, stretching 1.25 miles from Chatham Square on the south to Cooper Square on the north, is an iconic Manhattan street. It is one of the few streets in the world the name of which evokes meaning beyond just a location on the map. From its earliest history as a Native American trail, to its function as a colonial-period drover’s road and Post Road to Boston, to its role in fostering American entertainment and artistic genres as diverse as minstrelsy, vaudeville, jazz, punk, abstract expressionism and Beat poetry, the Bowery has played a central role in the physical and cultural development of Manhattan.

The architectural legacy of the street includes some of Manhattan’s earliest surviving townhouses, nineteenth and twentieth-century commercial buildings, lodging houses, saloons, social services buildings, and banks. Among the most architecturally and historically diverse streets in the city, buildings along the Bowery date from nearly every decade between ca. 1780 and the present.

Perhaps most significantly, the Bowery is an indispensible resource of two centuries of American social, economic, political, immigrant, labor, underground, criminal, deviant, marginal, counter-culture, literary, musical, dramatic and artistic history, and it is within the remarkable architectural catalogue of buildings that this history was made. Since 2004, Bowery Alliance of Neighbors has been a vocal advocate for the preservation and appreciation of The Bowery as one of New York’s most invaluable and irreplaceable historic and cultural resources. During that time, the Bowery has seen an explosion of large-scale development that negatively impacts the Bowery in a number of ways, including:

Loss of affordable housing and commercial space;
Evictions of long-time businesses and residents, including many of the artists who contributed to the current appeal of the Bowery as a center for New York creative culture;
Out of scale development, particularly high-rise hotels and condominium buildings;
Demolition of historic buildings.

In keeping with Two Bridges’ mission of building bridges within the community it serves, this project can serve as a catalyst, informing planning decisions on the Bowery that affect the many neighborhoods through which it runs. We advocate strongly for a comprehensive approach to community planning, centered on history, culture, and economic development.

Click here to view the National Register of Historic Places Registration form (PDF)

Click here to view the Press Release announcing The Bowery Historic District Listed in the National Register of Historic Places (PDF)

Click here to view the Press Release announcing The Bowery Historic District Listed in the National Register of Historic Places in Chinese (PDF)

South Street Stakeholders

In March 2012, Two Bridges hosted the first in a series of South Street Stakeholder meetings to discuss opportunities to implement better streetscape & urban design, including green infrastructure, to connect the Two Bridges Neighborhood between the Brooklyn Bridge and Montgomery Street to the East River Waterfront Esplanade. The stakeholders group includes property owners, residents, city agencies, elected officials, community board members and other interested parties.

For too long, this stretch of South Street has been a neglected corridor of dumpster platforms and parking lots, where most buildings fail to address the street and/or the water. With the new park developments along South Street, including the forthcoming Pier 42 at Montgomery Street, this area must better connect to the waterfront, for the benefit of owners and residents alike.

At this critical time, we see opportunities to:

Develop new or redesign existing street crossings to enable pedestrians and cyclists to safely reach the waterfront while calming traffic on this busy truck route;
Create more lively and active street life, thus safer streets, by encouraging commercial and residential infill to address South Street;
Reduce stormwater runoff and improve the health of the East River by incorporating green infrastructure into streetscapes and private property.
Manage storm surges in this low-lying coastal area through green technologies that can function in fair weather as parks and public space.
Address storm surge potential though appropriate architectural design.

Seward Park Urban Renewal Area (SPURA)

SPURA, under the auspices of the New York City’s Economic Development Corporation and Office of Housing Preservation & Development, with guidance by Community Board 3, must fulfill a powerful, creative, socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable vision in order to meet the needs of our community. On the books since 1965 and to-date undeveloped, SPURA is potentially the last significant large-scale development project on the Lower East Side for many years to come.

In 2008, Two Bridges participated in Community Voices and the Future of the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area, a joint project spearheaded by GOLES and the Pratt Center for Community Development, in partnership with a broad coalition of community-based organizations, to envision the scale and scope of the urban renewal area.

The political, social, and economic complexities surrounding the development of these sites has prevented the realization of this essential project for almost fifty years. In the context of the Lower East Side neighborhood, and to meet the needs of the business community and residents, Two Bridges advocates for:

The creation of a maximum amount of affordable housing (more than the 50%); The number of affordable housing units must be maximized, and all affordable housing units created must remain permanently affordable.
The inclusion of a public school and other community facilities in the non-residential square-footage; large ground and second floor non-residential space should be reserved for a public school, urgent or preventative care services, a grocery store, an affordable fitness center and/or a movie theatre & cultural or performing arts space.
A limitation of square footage on commercial space; in keeping with the scale of the neighborhood and character of small, local businesses, no retail commercial unit should be larger than 10,000 square feet.
Job creation in this neighborhood with a disproportionately high unemployment rate; local hiring must be stipulated in all scoping documents, and all efforts must be made to ensure that companies follow through in hiring local workers; and a portion of commercial square footage should be dedicated as a business incubator and affordable office space for small businesses and non-profits.

SPURA development must seamlessly integrate with the existing neighborhood from both a design and demographic perspective. The resultant residential, commercial, and community spaces must enhance the quality of life for all, and pay particular respect to the residents and businesses that for decades have bound together as a community in a neighborhood that many others—including the city—had overlooked.

Lower East Side Waterfront Alliance

For almost 60 years Two Bridges Neighborhood Council has had at the heart of its mission the goal of improving the quality of life for the residents of the Lower East Side. For more than a decade, our advocacy efforts have turned toward the waterfront, working with the city to explore ways to provide recreational access to the waterfront for the first time in history.

The Lower East Side Waterfront Alliance, a growing alliance of neighborhood organizations, concerned residents, property owners, tenant associations, professional social, health and educational institutions, and others, is committed to the economic, environmental, and social sustainability of the East River Waterfront along the Two Bridges neighborhood, Corlear’s Hook and East River Park to serve the adjacent Lower East Side & Chinatown communities.

Our goal is to work together to become active stewards of the ongoing redevelopment of the waterfront and its future use. The Lower East Side Waterfront Alliance members are working on many projects to bring attention to the East River Waterfront, including the Esplanade & Greenway, and Pier 42 and its possibilities. These include Paths to Pier 42 , a project to activate the waterfront through temporary art installations and events.

Lower East Side Waterfront Alliance Members:

Two Bridges Neighborhood Council

Hester Street Collaborative

GOLES

Lower East Side Ecology Center

Cherry Street Tenants Association

Land’s End Tenants Association

CAAAV

Paths to Pier 42